This invention relates to a method and apparatus for processing images, and more particularly to an image analysis system that takes as an input, bitmapped and/or digital ink images, and outputs structured object representations which can be used within a structured text/graphics editor.
While the invention is particularly directed to the art of image processing and analysis, and will be thus described with specific reference thereto, it is to be appreciated the invention may have usefulness in other fields and applications.
Electronic communication has become the standard in many fields, replacing and/or enhancing previous modes of communication. For example, in business, education, scientific and other forms of communication the use of electronic slide presentations has become nearly ubiquitous. These electronic slide presentations are commonly created through the use of structured text/graphics editor programs. Though not limited to, examples of such editors include MICROSOFT POWERPOINT (an electronic document generating package), COREL DRAW (an electronic drawing package), MACDRAW (an electronic drawing package), and FRAME (an electronic imaging program). These programs offer editing capabilities for both text and graphic material. Among the text editing capabilities are the control of fonts, columnar layout structures, list indentation, bullet points, and font color, among others. Graphic editing capabilities include menus of generic shapes, freeform and spline drawing, snapping to grids, resizing, parameterized reshaping, boundary lines and fill color control, as well as positioning of text blocks within graphic objects, among others. In addition, these structured text/graphics editors include the ability to import bitmap images, which are treated as picture objects that can be positioned, scaled and cropped.
While the structured text/graphics editors described have met with significant commercial success and usage, existing implementations have limitations. Particularly, existing structured text/graphics editors require the creation and editing of material to take place within the system via manual operations. Due to these limitations existing text/graphics editors are not able to meet the demands of workers employing different modes of work, such as working with physical documents, i.e., generating sketches by paper and pen. More particularly, the described computer-based text/graphic editing tools do not have an easy usable interface with physical document media.
For example, a common process for generating an electronic slide presentation using structured text/graphic editors begins with the drafting of presentation slides on a physical surface away from constraints of interacting with a computer. In one instance, an individual may make sketches on a pad of paper using pen and pencil, or a group may be cooperatively creating concepts on a whiteboard. Only after this initial process will someone be appointed to convert the handwritten material into structured text/graphic formats using the computer-based editors.
Alternatively, the entire presentation may be composed from scratch within a structured text/graphics editor, foregoing any possible advantages of using a paper media, simply due to the fact that the final result is required to be in the computerized format.
If the initial creation is undertaken using hand-drawn images, the process for importing these images into a structured text/graphic editor can be a tedious and cumbersome process. While various editors have created shortcuts which permit the selection of specific preconfigured geometric shapes through click-and-drag programs, even these shortcuts can become tedious when a complex figure is involved. Also drawing a complex shape not offered as a preconfigured object can be more difficult than drawing it freehand. Further, with attention to the inputting of text, the typing of keystrokes is in and of itself not difficult. However, obtaining a desired layout, with indentations, bulleted and structured text blocks in desired positions involves a large number of mouse and keyboard operations to navigate menus, enter text, adjust positions and format parameters, and so forth.
While text and graphic recognition systems exist, these systems do not consider the text and/or graphics in such a way that a structured text/graphics editor may employ its full range of operations to the recognized text/graphics.
It has therefore been considered useful to develop a system which overcomes the above deficiencies and others to improve the usefulness of structured text/graphics editors.